Kaprizov, Fleury excel as Wild top Avalanche
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kirill
Kaprizov had a goal and an assist as Minnesota clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by beating Colorado 4-1 on Friday.
Former Golden Knights goaltender Marc-andre Fleury had 27 saves for the Wild, improving to 9-2-0 since coming over from Chicago at the trade deadline. Minnesota’s other goaltender, Cam Talbot, is 13-0-3 in his past 16 starts.
Jordan Greenway had two goals, and Tyson Jost also scored for the Wild (53-22-7), who needed one point to guarantee opening the postseason at Xcel Energy Center, where they won a franchise-record 31 games.
Minnesota will face St. Louis in the first round next week. The Wild were 0-3 against the Blues this season.
Nazem Kadri scored and Pavel Francouz stopped 18 shots for the Avalanche, locked in as West’s top seed. Though Colorado went 1-5-1 in its last seven games, it finished with a franchise-best 119 points.
Minnesota scored on two of its first three shots. Greenway beat Francouz on the short side 58 seconds into the game, before Jost was the beneficiary of Kaprizov’s puck-handling skills.
Kaprizov, who set franchise records with 47 goals and 61 assists, entered the Avalanche zone on the left side, circled the net, crossed high in the zone and started to repeat the lap when he saw Jost alone in the slot.
■ Stars 4, Ducks 2: At Dallas, Jason Robertson scored a go-ahead power-play goal at 9:56 of the third period against Anaheim emergency replacement goalie Thomas Hodges, who stopped two shots in his NHL debut after goalies John Gibson (upper body) and Anthony Stolarz (lower body) were injured.
■ Coyotes 5, Predators 4: At Glendale, Ariz., Shayne Gostisbehere scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 9:33 left, for Arizona, which overcame a 4-0 first-period deficit to win its third straight in its final game at Gila River Arena after 19 seasons.
■ Kraken 3, Sharks 0: At Seattle, Chris Driedger stopped 24 shots in his fifth shutout and first this season, and Yanni Gourde and Adam Larsson scored in the first period as Seattle halted a four-game skid.
■ Penguins 5, Blue Jackets 3: At Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin scored his 20th goal of the season and had an assist for Pittsburgh, which clinched third place in the Metropolitan Division.
■ Lightning 6, Islanders 4: At New York, Steven Stamkos notched his first hat trick this season for Tampa Bay, which overcame a twogoal deficit with a five-goal third period.
■ Maple Leafs 5, Bruins 2: At Toronto, William Nylander scored twice for Toronto (54-21-7), which totaled 115 points — 10 more than the previous franchise record set in 2017-18.
■ Canadiens 10, Panthers 2: At Montreal, Cole Caufield notched his first NHL hat trick, and Carey Price stopped 37 shots in his 700th start for his first win this season.
■ Red Wings 5, Devils 3: At Newark, N.J., Tyler Bertuzzi and Michael Rasmussen each had a goal and an assist for Detroit, which dealt New Jersey its sixth straight loss.
■ Rangers 3, Capitals 2: At New York, Dryden Hunt scored the goahead goal at 6:42 of the third period for New York to back Alexandar Georgiev, who had 34 saves.
■ Oilers 3, Canucks 2, SO: At Edmonton, Alberta, Devin Shore scored the lone shootout goal as Edmonton won its third straight and seventh in eight games.
■ Sabres 3, Blackhawks 2, OT:
At Buffalo, N.Y., Casey Mittelstadt scored 2:07 into overtime as Buffalo won for the fifth time in six games.
■ Jets 3, Flames 1: At Winnipeg, Manitoba, Connor Hellebuyck stopped 32 shots to beat Dan Vladar, who had 40 saves for Calgary.
■ Senators 4, Flyers 2: At Philadelphia, Brady Tkachuk scored his 30th goal of the season and had an assist for Ottawa.